


The Loss of Light

by UmbraeCalamitas



Series: Episode Tag [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Episode Tag, Gen, Grief, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 06:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11594628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbraeCalamitas/pseuds/UmbraeCalamitas
Summary: The darkness of the Shadow Realm claims Yugi's soul during their battle with Pegasus. Yami's POV.





	The Loss of Light

**The Loss of Light**

Yami paced back and forth in his Soul Room. They had switched again, much against his better judgment. They had gone back to using the Mind Shuffle technique. It was perhaps only for this turn; perhaps one card would be enough to stave off Pegasus' impending victory, but Yugi… by Ra, they were in the Shadow Realm! Yugi couldn't take much more of this! Even when Yami had been in control, he could feel his counterpart weakening. They had to end this quickly, or…

Yami grit his teeth, trying hard to have patience and faith. This boy whose vessel he shared was unlike any that he had ever met before. He was willing to risk everything to save his grandfather and the Kaiba brothers. _Everything_.

Why?

Yami could feel the love that Yugi had for his grandfather. There was an emotion there for the Kaiba brothers, too, but he couldn't define it. It wasn't love; it wasn't even friendship. Perhaps it was a… hope for friendship… in the future?

Yami doubted Seto Kaiba would ever accept such an offer.

_Hurry, Yugi,_ Yami thought desperately, although he didn't speak it aloud to the boy. He would have faith in the abilities of his counterpart. This was his fight, too.

Yami didn't have his mind directly linked to Yugi's, so that he would be unaware of the card's identity that Yugi drew from the deck. He still knew, however, when Yugi had drawn the card, and he listened to him as he informed Pegasus of what he was doing.

"Pegasus, I play one card… face down." Yami closed his eyes at the strain in Yugi's voice. It was a sound that shouldn't be there. This was all so wrong… "And for my last move, I throw Feral Imp in defense mode."

_Last move._ Those words frightened Yami. He knew that he and Yugi had decided that even just drawing one more card using the Mind Shuffle might give them a chance, and then he would relinquish the duel to Yami, but those words… they sounded so… _final_.

Yami was waiting for the tingling sensation throughout Yugi's body that would reveal Pegasus' intent to read Yugi's mind. When that happened, they would shuffle back, not revealing Yugi's facedown card, and then Yugi would be safe.

"Relinquished, prepare to attack."

Yami's head snapped up. What? No mind-reading? Why would Pegasus waste a chance to discover the identity of Yugi's facedown card? Yami knew that they would switch immediately, and Pegasus wasn't stupid, but… unless…

"Use the Dark Magician's power. Billford Power Attack – destroy the Feral Imp."

"Oh no," Yami whispered, the truth suddenly dawning on him. Pegasus knew that they would switch, so instead of reading Yugi's mind-

Yami was thrown from his feet when Relinquished's attack struck the Feral Imp, and ripped through Yugi like thousands of hurtled knives.

Yami leapt to his feet, shoving open the door to his Soul Room and rushing across the hall to Yugi's. The door had been closed to keep out Yami's mind, preventing him from knowing Yugi's thoughts. Yami tried to open the door, but it had been locked. He pounded his fists on the door, ignoring the searing pain that bit at his hands from the heat. The attack of their opponent had no doubt ripped ferociously through Yugi's Soul Room.

"Yugi!" Yami cried, feeling desperate and fearful. He shoved against the door. Instead of it opening, he passed through it like a ghost, and appeared next to Yugi in spirit form.

The wind from Relinquished's attack whipped around them. Yugi had brought up a hand to protect his face, and Yami wrapped his arms around his young counterpart, in an attempt to protect him from the attack on his soul.

"Switch now!" Yami commanded. Somewhere, deep inside his Soul Room, someone was crying. "Quickly!" he said, ignoring the child buried within his own Soul Room. He touched Yugi's arm gently with his hand, willing that his form not pass through the boy, and instead they switch.

A wall between them seemed to waver and then crumble, and Yami felt Yugi's emotions and pain come rushing at him. He tried to grip the pain within his own soul, pull its dastardly effects from Yugi, but it was too late. With the pain came the feeling of utter weakness, and then the darkness as it curled around Yugi and then reached out toward Yami, willful to take them both down. The Shadow Realm, however, had less of an effect on spirits than on living creatures. Still, the darkness was content with simply Yugi's life, if it couldn't have them both.

Yami felt Yugi's form slip from the touch of his hand. He cried out as the boy collapsed to his knees. He tried to reach him, to hold him up, to give him strength, but his spirited limbs passed right through the boy. Yami's crimson eyes widened in fear, for he felt nothing within the boy to grab onto. His spirit form could touch and hold Yugi's young soul, but… he couldn't hold him, for Yugi's soul had been shredded, as he had feared, and its last remnants were swiftly slipping away.

" _Spirit…"_ Yami heard the words in his mind, barely audible against the rising fear, the hollow echo of his lonely Soul Room. _"You've got… to beat… Pegasus…"_ Emotions of determination, need, and desperation filled him; Yugi's sense of desire to save his grandfather, to save Seto and Mokuba… and then, darkness arrived to steal them away, as well.

There was a loud snap, and the door to Yugi's Soul Room burst open, the lock relinquishing its hold upon its master's fall. Yami staggered forward, caught himself, and then rushed to his counterpart's side.

Yugi was lying on the floor, his face buried in the crook of his left arm, his right arm stretched forward as though reaching for something.

Yami knelt down next to the boy and pulled him into his arms. He bit back a cry at the cold feeling of Yugi's flesh against his own. Those sweet violet eyes that conveyed so much light had closed, but Yami longed for them to open. He needed to see them again, to look into them and be lost in the light. He felt alone; suddenly vastly, agonizingly alone, and terror welled up within him.

He shook his head, willing away the truth. "Yugi!" he cried. "Yugi!" He shook the young boy lightly, feeling around with his mind for a hint that the boy was still there, but the truth was snapping and snarling in his face. _I can't sense his spirit… I can no longer feel the presence of his young mind…_ Yami clutched the boy tightly to him, willing his strength into the child. He would permit his own soul to be lost in the Shadow Realm for an eternity, if only to bring the child back.

He opened his eyes wide when his probing soul felt… nothing. There was nothing left within this small vessel to take his strength. He could not bring back the boy. He… he…

"No!" he cried, burying his face into the child's wild tri-colored hair. He felt something wet on his cheeks, a burning behind his eyes, but he ignored it all. "No, he… he can't be gone," he whispered. "Yugi… Yugi…"

" _Forget about him. The boy was weak."_

The words whispered in from the outside world. Yami raised his head, crimson eyes flashing in a glare. _Pegasus,_ he snarled. Yugi was not weak. In fact, he was stronger than Yami himself was, for he had risked himself to save those he loved – not his life, but his very _soul_.

He laid Yugi gently upon the ground, feeling his eyes well with tears at the sight of the child, still and utterly silent upon the floor. He leaned forward and kissed Yugi softly on the forehead, before he rose to his full height.

For the first time, he saw the darkness of the walls around him. Yugi's Soul Room was empty, devoid of life, as Yugi was now devoid of life. Eyes narrowing, Yami stormed from Yugi's Soul Room, out of the confines of his mind and into the control of the vessel he had once shared with a boy that was now gone.

Pegasus was going to pay.


End file.
